Indonesian gov't urged to block websites selling illegal medicines

The Indonesian government was urged to block websites selling illegal medicines with most of them having Internet domain outside the country. Head of National Agency for Food and Medicines Surveillance Kustantinah told a parliamentary hearing on Thursday that her agency has joined an action called Operation Pangea IV that was conducted simultaneously in 81 countries and was coordinated by the International Crime Police Organization (Interpol) on Sept. 20- 27. "The operation was conducted based on surveillance of rampant illegal medicines sales via Internet," said Kustantinah. She said that her agency found 30 websites selling illegal medicines in which 27 of them have Internet domain outside Indonesia. "As follow up of the finding, we proposed the Ministry for Communication and Informatics to block those websites," she said. She also said that during the operation, her agency managed to seize illegal medicines consisting of those for treating erection dysfunction, stimulant for women and fat loss medicines. "We also arrested 2 suspects," she said.